For those who want to Cook and Eat well but don't know how to do it right...Easy recipes all tested at home. Polish home cooking - healthy and DELICIOUS!!!!

I Am Delicious is a blog written by Magdalena Skorupa, a Polish woman who lives in Warsaw but works all over the world. Here come all my cooking inspirations and thousands of recipes that still need to be translated into English. Took many years to finally start that blog but here I am and I'm ready to share all my passion for food and cooking.

On I Am Delicious you will find diverse recipe ideas, smart cooking advices (all tested at home) and pictures taken by me. This blog is designed for those who want to Cook and Eat well but don't know how to do it right...Most of recipe ideas are mixture of Polish and worldwide home cooking but under major influence of diverse cultures, flavors and aromas from all over the world - all healthy and Delicious!!!

The blog was created in January 2012 and supposed to be my escape from daily life, job and responsibilities. Here are my evening moments I can spend on writing and sharing all my passion for food and cooking.

Since years my family and friends were enjoying what I have cooked/fried or baked and they kept asking for my 'secret, mysterious' ingredients I must add into dishes. My brother and neighbours used to come to me with takeaway bowls and boxes, asking what I'm going to cook next week and whether they could order something.

April 16, 2013

Baked tomatoes with eggs is a dish so simple to prepare that there is no chance you would fail. Perfect option for a starter. Takes 30 minutes to prepare and am sure you will love it.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

4 large tomatoes

1 Tbsp freshly hashed thyme

5 tsp butter

4 eggs

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

freshly chopped parsley to garnish

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 C.

2. Wash the tomatoes and cut top of each tomato. Then scoop the inside leaving approx. 1 cm. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add 1 tsp of butter to each tomato. Add thyme and at the end add fresh egg.

3. Put the tomatoes into pre-heated oven and bake for approx. 20 minutes.

April 02, 2013

One of my favorite soups. Takes less than one hour and this delicious dish will steal hearts of your loved ones. Thick, flavorful lentil soup is full of nutrition. Healthy and rich of proteins. Lentils are originated in central Asia. They were found in the tombs of the Ancient Egyptians in 2400 BC. They come in all shapes and colors - can be brown, green, yellow, red or black. Lentils are Lentils are low in fat, high in protein, folate, phosphorus, fiber and iron. They are very easy to cook and don’t need soaking like dried beans. In less than 40 minutes they will be all soft and ready to eat.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onion

2 finely chopped carrots

2 chopped leeks

1/2 finely chopped celery root

2 parsley roots - sliced

250 - 300 g dried lentils

1 chilli pepper - finely sliced

250 ml natural yoghurt

1 l chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 tsp freshly ground coriander

1/2 tsp freshly ground toasted cumin

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

300 g finaly chopped sausage - I use a smoked sausage.

1/2 Tbsp dried oregano

1/ 2 tsp dried sage

freshly chopped parsley to garnish

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Once hot, add the onion, carrot, sausage, celery, parsley roots, chopped leeks, salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are translucent, approx. 5 minutes.

2. Add the lentils, broth and all the spices. Stir well to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, approx. 30 minutes. Remember to add fresh water to keep lentils covered and stir from time to time.

3. Add yoghurt previously mixed with a bit of hot soup. Stir well and cook all together for another 10 minutes.

March 21, 2013

Cabbage and Meat Rolls served in Tomato & Capers Sauce are known in Polish as gołąbki (literally: little
pigeons) and definitely are one of my favorite traditional Polish recipes. Cabbage rolls stuffed with a
meat, rice and 'secret' herbs mixture are simply delicious and very easy to prepare. Full of nutrition and will keep your stomach full for many hours.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 100 minutes

Ingredients:

1 whole head cabbage - white or green - with large leaves

1 large onion, chopped

2 Tbsp butter

2 eggs

2 Tbsp dried marjoram

2 Tbsp dried thyme

500 g minced beef meat

500 g minced pork meat

2 cups cooked white rice

4 cloves finely chopped garlic

1 l beef or vegetable stock

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

mashed potatoes to serve with

500 ml tomato sauce made from fresh tomatoes

150 g capers to mix with the sauce

Method:

1. Chop the onion. Add minced garlic cloves. Saute both in butter in large skillet until onion turns gold. Once ready. Leave aside to cool.

4. Core the cabbage and blanche its leaves in boiling salty water. Peel them off as they become limp. Once you separated all the leaves, cut off thick stems to prevent the limp leaf from bending.

5. Put about 2 Tbsp of meat & rice mixture in the center of each leaf and fold the sides of the leaf in a roll shape. Should look like a little envelope package.

6. Move all cabbage rolls into a casserole dish with their seam down. Pour beef stock into a casserole to come about half way up the rolls. Cover the
casserole tightly and cook in a preheated oven in 190 C for 60 minutes.

7. Check the level of liquid in the casserole. Pour away
all but 1 cup. Pour on the fresh tomato sauce with capers and cook, uncovered, for a further 30-40 minutes, or until the cabbage is tender. You can reduce the heat to 170 C.

March 12, 2013

Rum and cream cupcakes are again a great option for a nice dessert or sweet breakfast. I love the smell when baking and delicious taste when having my morning coffee with one cupcake. Best thing about this recipe is that apart of the cake itself you can be really creative for a cream, fruits and decoration.

Prep Time: 55 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 glass of sugar

3 large eggs

70 g raisins

5-6 Tbsp dark rum

300 g plain flour

25 g yeast

150 ml lukewarm milk

150 g butter

1 pinch of salt

20 g vanilla sugar

fruits, jelly and icing for decoration. You can create nice jelly shapes like I did - anything you like

Method:

1. Soak the raisins in the rum for as long as you wish. Of course, the longer, the better.

2. Add the flour to a large bowl and create a hole in the center. Crumble in the yeast. Add 3-4 Tbsp of lukewarm milk, 2 Tbsp of sugar and create a dough.

3. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and leave in a pre-heated oven to 50 C for approx. 15 minutes. Oven must be pre-heated and switched off. The dough should expand almost a double of its size and develop plenty of air bubbles.

4. Now add the remaining sugar, milk, vanilla sugar, eggs, flakes of soft butter, salt and soaked raisins into the dough. I also add a few additional spoons of dark rum for a better taste :)

5. Kneed the mixture using a dough hook of a hand-held mixer. Again cover the dough and leave it in a pre-heated to 50 C and switched off oven for approx. 30 minutes until it has doubled the size.

6. Once your dough is ready, fill cupcake baking moulds to approx. 2/3 full. Do not overfill. Am using silicon moulds for that as I think they are best. Do not forget to springle some oil over the moulds so your cupcakes won't stick when baked.

7. Place the moulds into the center of a pre-heated to 180 C oven and bake for approx. 25 minutes. Cupcakes are ready when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8. Cool aside then remove cupcakes from the moulds and place on wire racks to cool completely.

9. Now time to decorate. I used a whipped cream with 1 Tbsp of orange liquer, decorated with icing sugar and fruits. Additionally, I created nice and funny shapes jellies in two flavours: cherry and kiwi. You can be as creative as you wish.

February 10, 2013

Parma Ham Macaroni with black olives, cherry tomatoes and green peas is simply delicious and very easy to prepare. Full of nutrition and will keep your stomach full for many hours. Also if you skip adding ham, that might be a good option for vegetarians. You might be creative here and get additional ingredients, anything you like to have in macaroni dish.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

2 leeks - chopped

400 g frozen peas

200 g Parma ham - chopped

400 g macaroni

300 g grated mozzarella cheese

3 Tbsp mustard

300 g cherry tomatoes - in halves

500 ml vegetable stock

2 chilli peppers - chopped

150 g black olives

5 Tbsp basil leaves - chopped

4-5 Tbsp olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

fresh basil leaves to garnish

Method:

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add leeks, chilli pepper and Parma ham. Cook all together for 5 minutes or until leeks are soft.

2. Add peas and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

3. In the meantime cook macaroni. When ready, drain the pasta and leave aside to cool a bit.

4. Now add macaroni into leeks and peas. Add vegetable stock and stir well. Add half of grated cheese and mustard. Add sea salt and pepper. Mix well. If needed add a more of olive oil. Cook for 5 minutes - stirring from time to time until cheese melts.

5. At the end of cooking, add cherry tomatoes, chopped basil leaves and black olives. Mix and leave aside for a moment.

6. Now move the pasta from skillet to large baking dish. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C with no fan and if you are using fan to 180 C. Sprinkle remaining half of grated cheese over macaroni and leave in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

February 06, 2013

Orange and chocolate muffins are so delicious that I cannot resist to stop preparing them. I love the smell when baking and incredible taste of orange mixed with white chocolate when having my morning coffee. Best thing about muffins is that you can be really creative and you can bake your own designed muffins.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 glass of sugar - I use powder sugar

3 eggs

2 glasses of plain flour

200 ml fresh orange juice

400-500 ml butter milk

100 g butter

3 tsp baking powder

250 g orange jam

100 g white chocolate

100 g candied orange

100 ml cointreau liqueur

20 g vanilla sugar

1/3 tsp salt

chocolate for decoration

decorate your orange muffins as desired - be creative

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C (top and bottom heat).

2. Cut the chocolate into small pieces. Mix the flour with sugar, salt, baking powder and vanilla sugar.

4. At the end add candied orange and white chocolate into the mixture.

5. Fill the muffin (cupcake) baking moulds to approx. 2/3 full. Do not overfill. Am using silicon moulds for that as I think they are best. Do not forget to springle some oil over the moulds so your cupcakes won't stick when baked.

6. Place the muffins into the center of a pre-heated oven and bake for approx. 20 minutes.

7. Muffins are ready when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8. Cool 5 minutes then remove cupcakes from the moulds and place on wire racks to cool completely.

9. If the muffins are not coming out, carefully move a blunt blade along the rim.

February 05, 2013

Home made roasted halibut in cherry tomatoes and black olives tastes like heaven. When I discovered it for the first time in Italy, I was speechless. Simply delicious and takes only about 25 minutes to prepare. Perfect option for vegetarians.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Wait Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

500 g halibut fillets or any other white fish fillets

200 g black olives halved

700 g cherry tomatoes in halves

sea salt and black pepper

70 g pine nuts

4 Tbsp basil leaves - the more, the better

1 lemon

125 ml olive oil

Method:

1. Clean the fish under cold water. Season with pepper, juice from one lemon and 50 ml olive oil. Leave in a fridge for about 2 hours.

2. Heat the oven to 200 C.

3. Heat remaining olive oil in a large skillet and cook the fillets for about 2-3 minutes until one sides turns gold crispy.

4. Move the fillets into a large baking dish. Add cherry tomatoes cut into halves, basil leaves, pine nuts and halved black olives. Season one more time with black pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

5. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until fish becomes tender. Remember to cover top of the baking dish with a tin-foil to avoid fish drying.

6. Serve hot on warm plates decorated with fresh basil leaves. You migh drizzle a bit of olive oil over the fillets.

Home made chilli con carne can be served in many ways. In pita bread, in tortilla flats or accompanied by rice. Either way is simply delicious and full of nutrition. Excellent option for cold winter days. After having chilli con carne for lunch, it will keep you warm and with full stomach for many hours.

3. Now add lean minced beef and keep stirring for at least 5 minutes, until all the mince is in uniform and there are no pink bits left. Make sure you keep the heat hot enough for the meat to fry and become brown, rather than just stew. If needed you can add a bit more olive oil.

4. Once the meat turned brown, add red wine and cook for another 5 minutes. Then add beef stock, red kidney beans and chopped cherry tomatoes from the can, together with the souce and tomato puree. Stir well, reduce a bit the heat and leave to simmer for approx. 60-70 minutes until most of the sauce evaporates. You should stir ocassionally to make sure the sauce doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan or isn't drying out. If sauce evaporates too soon, add more beef stock. At the end of cooking, add chopped chives.

5. When chilli con carne is ready, remove the lid, turn off the heat and leave it to stand for 10 minutes before serving, and relax. Leaving your chilli to stand is really important as it allows the flavours to penetrate the meat.

6. Serve hot with tortilla bread or white long boiled rice. Garnish with chopped parsley leaves. If you decide for tortilla, remember to spread 1 Tbsp of sour cream on each tortilla and then put the mean, roll and enjoy delicious flavor.

January 20, 2013

Pita bread with tandoori chicken is simply delicious and makes ulimately great lunch or dinner. This recipe will keep all your friends and neighbours coming for more.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

3 skinless chicken breasts - approx. 500 g

2 onions - sliced

6 pita pockets - warm

fresh lettuce leaves to put into pita pockets

3 Tbsp capers

3 Tbsp green olives

200 g natural yoghurt

200 g tandori pasta or a package of tandori spice mix

2 tomatoes - sliced

5 Tbsp olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Wash the chicken first and then cut into small chunks. Visible fat trimmed.

2. Put chicken into a separate dish and add marinade made from natural yoghurt, sea salt and pepper and tandoori pasta. Add olive oil. Stir well and leave chicken aside for minimum 2 hours in a refrigerator. You can also marinate it overnight for even a better flavor.

4. Once chicken is ready, place it together with a marinade to a pre-heated with olive oil pan on a medium heat. If you re-use marinade and cook your chicken in it - meat will be more tender and all juicy. Cook chicken for 10-15 minutes.

5. Put pita bread pockets in aluminium foil and leave in a pre-heated oven to 200 C for 5 minutes. That way your bread will be all nice and warm.

Mozzarella and tomato salad is one of the easiest salads you can prepare in less than 15 minutes. Also perfect salad for vegetarians and of course healthy and nutritious for everyone. Mozzarella cheese is produced from milk obtained through cows or buffalos. It originated in Italy. Most common use of mozzarella comes on pizza or lasagna. However, very often you can find it in a variety of salads like the one below. The word “mozzarella” was first discovered in 1570 in a cookbook by Bartolomeo Scappi. A 100 gram mozzarella ball contains approx. 22 grams of protein and 22 grams of fat. Healthy and nutritious.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 balls of mozzarella cheese - approx. 300 g

3 large tomatoes

50 g rocket leaves

6-8 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

3 Tbsp balsamic sause to decorate

basil leaves to garnish

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Cut mozzarella balls and tomatos into slices with same thickeness.

2. Arrange the tomatoes and mozzarella on rocket leaves and drizzle with olive oil.

3. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper and docorate with fresh basil leaves.

4. Optionally you can also drizzle with some balsamic sauce or venegar. Serve immediately.

January 13, 2013

Little sauerkraut and mushroom pies are a perfect accompaniament for any clear soup like Christmas beetroot soup called in Polish barszcz. These little pies are made from puff pastry which you can make yourself or buy a ready pastry in supermarket. My pies are just for two bites so a perfect little snacks. It might look complicated to prepare but not that difficult. Most important is to have a great sauerkraut and mushroom filling.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 80 minutes

Ingredients:

600 g pastry for pies (at its most basic, it is a mixture of flour and fat bound with water to form a paste) - puff pastry

1 kg sauerkraut mixed with two grated carrots and 1 Tbsp of cumin

45 g dried mashrooms eg. edible boletus, king bolete

2 big onions - chopped

6-8 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

1 l of boiling water

1 egg - beaten

Method:

1. Finely chopped onion fry in a large skillet with olive oil. Keep stirring until onion is soft and translucent.

2. Pour hot water into dry mashrooms and leave aside for 10 minutes.

3. Now cook the mashrooms with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for 10 minutes.

4. Cut sauerkraut into small pieces. Add sea salt and pepper. Now add cooked mushrooms together with their boiling sauce. Now add boiling water and cook on medium-low heat until half of water evaporates. Should take approx. 30 minutes.

5. Roll out the pastry in the flat surface, dusted with a bit of flour and form a square shape, then cut it creating two triangles. Pastry should be max 5 mm thick. Triangle hight should be about 10 cm long.

6. Prick each triangle with a fork. Brush each square with well beaten egg.

7. Spread 1 Tbsp of sauerkraut and mushrooms on on each pastry.

8. Now connect two opposit corners of pastry together. Brush with an egg again.

9. Put the tarts on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in pre-heated to 180 C degrees oven for approx. 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

10. Serve hot. You can serve it plain, as is, or together with a clear soup like beetroot soup.

January 07, 2013

Poppyseed cakes are very popular in Poland, especially for Christmas and Easter time. Some Poles believe that poppyseed brings luck. I decided to use a real poppyseed, however, canned filling works well in this recipe unless you want to grind your own - like me! Does not take that much to prepare, however requires quite a technique to roll the dough. Just try and you will love it as much as I do.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Wait Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

100 g all purpose flour

100 g potato starch

150 g powder sugar

8-10 egg yolks

4-5 egg whites - beaten

1 Tbsp vanilla sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla essence

Filling Ingredients:

750 g ground poppyseeds

400 g sugar

4 Tbsp of honey

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

20 g softened butter

100 g dried raisins

100 g diced candid orange and lemon rind - chopped or grated

ground walnuts, sliced almonds

4 egg whites - beaten

150 ml dark rum

chocolate or frosting to decorate

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites. Add sugar and vanilla sugar at the end. Add egg yolks and stir well with a spoon. Add vanilla essence, mixed potato and all purpose flour. Stirr well, until you have a creamy mixture.

2. Pour the mixture into a baking tray. Sponge cake should be approx. 1 cm thick.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C. Bake the cake for 10-13 minutes until cake starts to turn gold.

4. When the sponge cake is ready, remove it immediately from the oven. Otherwise it will start to dry too much. Move it to the kitchen towel sprinkled with some powder sugar. Cover it with another kitchen towel but make sure it is damp.

5. Now we will prepare the poppyseed filling, unless you have the canned one so you can directly move to step 7.

6. Walsh the poppyseed. Move to the pot, pour enough water to cover entire poppyseed and cook for 30-35 minutes. Clean the raisins, add dark rum and leave aside to soak a bit. Ready poppyseed must be filtered first. Now we have to mill it three times at least. Mix milled poppyseed with sugar, honey, cocoa powder and beaten egg whites. Melt the butter on a large skillet and add poppyseed. Cook, stirring for 5-10 minutes. Now, almost ready poppyseed filling mix with the raisins and all remaining rum, diced candid orange and lemon rind, almonds and ground walnuts. Leave it aside to chill a bit. Your filling is ready now.

7. Remove the damp kitchen towel from the sponge cake and paste the poppyseed filling on the cake. Roll the cake using the kitchen towel which is under the cake. Wrap in kitchen foil and leave to cool down in a fridge for 1 hour.

8. Before serving glaze with frosting or chocolate and sprinkle with desired topping.

December 31, 2012

Salmon in delicious white wine aspic is another perfect dish for Christmas dinner. Does not take long to prepare it. Am sure you will love it, from the first moment you try. Healthy and reach of proteins.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

500 g salmon fillet - no skin

250 ml white dry wine

250 ml vegetable stock

2 carrots - sliced

2 large onions - sliced

2 finely chopped leeks

2 parsley roots - sliced

1/3 celery root (celeriac) - finely chopped

2 Tbsp gelatin

2 egg whites - slightly beaten

juice from 1 lemon

5-7 bay leaves

2 pickles to decorate

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

fresh parsley leaves to garnish

Method:

1. Clean and prepare the fillets. Cut them into larger pieces.

2. Simmer all the vegetables with salt and pepper in vegetable broth for about 15 minutes. Add white wine and all the spices mixed with lemon juice.

3. Now add salmon fillets and cook on medium-low heat for another 10 minutes.

4. Remove salmon from the soup and filter all the vegetables. We do not need them anymore.

5. Put cooked salmon fillets on the bottom of small bawls and decorate with sliced picles and parsley leaves.

December 26, 2012

Dried Fruit Compote is another example of traditional Polish recipes for Christmas. It is one of the 12 dishes that should be served on Christmas Eve dinner. Very easy to prepare, takes less than one hour. You will love it as much as I do. Also you can serve it both chilled or hot.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 l water

250 g dried plums

300 g dried apples

200 g dried pears

100 g raisins

juice of 1 lemon

3 Tbsp powder sugar

40 g vanilla sugar

1 Tbsp whole cloves

3 cinnamon sticks

2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Method:

1. First you need to rinse and soak all the fruits for approx. 30 minutes in hot 2 l of water. Later, move the fruits into a large pot, together with water they were already soaking. Make sure you have about 2 liters of water, if needed add some more.

2. Add sugar, cloves, lemon juice and cinnamon into the fruits. Cook for 30 minutes, adding more lemon juice or sugar to taste.

3. Filter the compote and you can serve it chilled or hot. I like both and cannot even decide which one I prefer. I love to serve it with Christmas cookies or a gingerbread cake for a dessert.

One of my favorite dishes. Original Christmas fish soup is made from fresh carp. However, you can use any fresh fish you like or you can buy in a grocery store like cod, halibut, sole, sea bass. Carp are various species of freshwater fish, native in Europe and Asia. Delicious and warming up in cold autumn or winter days. Easy to make and takes just a little to prepare this delicious soup. Healthy and reach of proteins.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 kg fresh fish like cod, carp, sole, sea bass or any you like

3 carrots - sliced

3 large onions - sliced

2 finely chopped leeks

2 parsley roots - sliced

1/3 celery root (celeriac) - finely chopped

3 tomatoes - chopped

250 ml sour cream (18%)

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

2 Tbsp sweet pepper

dried thyme

dried oregano

dried sage

dried fennel seeds

3-4 Tbsp butter

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

freshly chopped dill to garnish

Method:

1. Clean and prepare your chosen fish. Cut fish into large chunks. Best fish soups are the ones where you use all the fish parts like bones and head. Later on we will filter the soup so don't be afraid of bones.

2. Simmer your fish and all the vegetables with salt and pepper slowly in 2 l of water for about 30 minutes.

3. After 30 minutes, we have to filter the soup and cut fish into smaller pieces removing all the bones. Add chopped fish meat into filtered soup. Add all the spices.

Beetroot Soup is another traditional Polish dish. This soup is served in most Polish houses on Christmas Eve dinner (December 24th) after the first star can be seen on the sky... My version of beetroot soup has to be started about 5 days before serving. In traditional version you have to prepare your own leaven (starter dough). Just give it a try and you will love beetroot soup.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Wait Time: 5 days

Cook Time: 130 minutes

Ingredients:

1.5 kg fresh beetroots for main soup

3 kg beetroots for leaven

4-5 cloves of garlic - sliced

skin of brown loaf

4 big onions

40 g dried mushrooms

100 g dried plums

250 ml dry red wine

juice of 1 lemon

1Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp marjoram

10 pimentos

7 bay leaf

2 Tbsp salt

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to season

fresh parsley to decorate

Method:

1. You need to start preparing your beetroot soup about 5 days before serving. First we need to prepare beetroot leaven and leave it aside for 5 days.

2. To prepare beetroot leaven you need to add 2 Tbsp of salt into 1 liter of warm water in large glass bowl. Remove the skin from 3 kg of fresh beetroots and cut them into slices. Pour salty water into beetroot slices, add garlic, brown loaf skin and 2 sliced onions. Water should cover the beetroots. Cover the glass bowl with kitchen towel and leave aside for 5 days in a warm place.

3. After 5 days, filter the juice from beetroots.

4. Pour hot water into the mashrooms and leave for 10 minutes.

5. Wash under hot water 1 kg of beetroots and boil for 40 minutes in hot water with some salt.

6. Cut 2 onions into quarters and put into a large pot of 2 liters of water. Add dried plums. Add mushrooms together with their juice. Mix well and cook approx. 1 hour.

8. When your soup finally has nice dark red color, add red wine and we are ready to filter the soup. Separate the vegetables from the bullion, add some pepper and salt for a better taste and your soup is ready to serve.

9. You can decorate with fresh parsley.

In Poland this soup can be also served with 'uszka'. These are small dumplings with a shape of an ear (thus the name) stuffed with sauerkraut and mashrooms. I love to serve it also with special little pies stuffed with sauerkraut and mushrooms. I will tell you how to prepare those at home - they are simply Delicious.

December 23, 2012

Hunter's cabbage stew is well known in Poland and called 'bigos'. We love to prepare bigos especially in cold winter days. The greatest thing about bigos is that the longer it stays in the fridge, the better bigos taste is. Serve with white bread.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 145 minutes

Ingredients:

1 kg sauerkraut mixed with two grated carrots and 1 Tbsp of cumin

300 g lean pork meat - cut into small pieces

200 g smoked bacon - cut into smoked pieces

300 g sausage - sliced

3 Tbsp all purpose flour

150 ml red dry wine

100 g dried plums

100 g dried mashrooms eg. edible boletus, king bolete

2 big onions - chopped

6-8 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

ground cumin

pimento

marjoram

rosemary

coriander

ground garlic

7 bay leaf

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

1 l of boiling water

Method:

1. Finely chopped onion fry in a large skillet with olive oil. Keep stirring until onion is soft and translucent.

2. Pour hot water into dry mashrooms and leave aside for 10 minutes.

3. Now cook the mashrooms with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for 10 minutes.

4. Cut sauerkraut into small pieces. Add dry plums, sea salt, pepper, bay leaf, pimento, marjoram, rosemary, coriamder, garlic and cumin. Add cooked mushrooms together with their boiling sauce. Now add boiling water and cook on medium-low heat until half of water evaporates. Should take approx. 40 minutes.

5. In the meantime, in a large skillet cook smoked bacon for 10 minutes.

6. In a separate skillet fry pork and sausage together on olive oil. Add bacon and cook for another 5 minutes.

7. Move all the meat and sausage and onion into the sauerkraut and mix well. Simmer on low-medium heat for approx. 60-80 minutes or until cabbage is soft. At the end add dry red wine.

8. Heat 6 Tbsp of olive oil in the large heavy skillet and add flour. Keep stirring until mixture turns a bit brown and then immediately add it to the cabbage and mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes.

9. You can serve your bigos with white bread or eat it as it is. It can stay in your fridge for a few days and it will taste better and better every day.

December 22, 2012

I love Christmas and everything around that magic time. Gingerbread recipes are part of my Christmas since years. This time I decided to prepare a funny version of traditional gingerbread cake. Just try and you will love it as much as I do.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

250 - 300 g powder sugar

250 g butter

3 eggs

20 g vanilla sugar

1 Tbsp rum essence

200 g honey

500 g all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 - 3 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

2 Tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

500 - 600 ml warm milk

100 ml dark rum

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.

2. In a large mixing bowl mix together butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs. Mix all together and add honey. Keep mixing.

4. At the end, add flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and ground cloves. Mix well. At the end add warm milk and make sure you blend well the creamy mixture. The mixture cannot be too dense because then it will be a real challenge to fill the baking moulds.

5. Fill the baking moulds to approx. 2/3 full. Do not overfill. Am using silicon moulds for that as I think they are best. Do not forget to springle some oil over the moulds so your cupcakes won't stick when baked.

6. Place the moulds into the center of a pre-heated oven and bake for approx. 30 minutes.

7. Your cakes are ready when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8. Cool 5 minutes then remove your cakes from the moulds and place on wire racks to cool completely.

December 20, 2012

Classic Trout served with capers and steemed green beans is full of nutrition. Low in sodium, great source of protein, vitamin B12 and manganese. Trout similar to salmon is rich in heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids. Trout lives mostly in freshwater. Rainbow trouts eat meat. They feast on insects, crustaceans, and small fish. The largest trout grew to 57 pounds. It takes only a few minutes to prepare this delicious dish. Just give it a try and enjoy!!!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

4 trout fillets with skin (approx 800 g)

150 g butter

2-3 garlic cloves - sliced

juice of one lemon

2- 3 Tbsp chopped parsley

2 Tbsp capers

green beans to serve with

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Wash the trout fillets and pat dry with a paper towel.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C with fan.

3. Put trout fillets in a large baking dish, season with black papper and 2 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice. Put approx. 30 g of butter on the top of fillets.

4. Cook in the oven for approx. 12-15 minutes until fish is ready.

5. Melt remaining butter in a small sauce pan. Add lemon juice, chopped parsley and sliced garlic. At the end, add capers and cook all together for 1-2 minutes.

December 18, 2012

Oven Baked Shrimps are a perfect option for a nice starter or light lunch. Shrimps prepared in various ways are healthy and perfect for well balanced diet. It takes just a few minutes to prepare and tastes simply delicious. Enjoy!!!